By Growth & Justice Category Posts

ST. PAUL LEGAL LEDGER CAPITOL REPORT
A recent report by the national research group PolicyLink features three maps showing Minnesota’s changing demographics over the course of 60 years, with each of our state’s 87 counties shaded to indicate the evolution of our diversity.
Source: Policy Link, U.S. Census Bureau, Woods & Poole Economics.
The 1980 map is almost all homogenous, with people of color comprising more than... Read More

STAR TRIBUNE
No word has been more effective than “competitiveness” in advancing a business agenda with a rather narrow focus over the last 30 years.
Since the early 1980s, in Minnesota and across America, we’ve been told that — for the sake of international competitiveness — jobs had to be outsourced, wages and pensions and health care benefits downsized, and environmental and financial regulations reduced.
In... Read More

ST. PAUL LEGAL LEDGER CAPITOL REPORT
One of the sillier accusations tossed at our public schools in recent years is that they fail to teach “values” or provide moral instruction.
I spend enough time in the halls and classrooms of Minnesota public schools to know that this is mostly nonsense, and that timeless virtues of respect for others, honesty, and perseverance are inculcated in some way, most days, to most students.
But I&r... Read More

ST. PAUL LEGAL LEDGER CAPITOL REPORT
Minnesota’s distinctiveness as a home to innovation and invention is a favorite theme for those in the business of marketing our state to potential employers and investors.
Post-It notes, snowmobiles, indoor shopping malls, water-skiing, the Pacemaker and other momentous advances in technology are among our best known material inventions.
Perhaps less famous but more impactful have been innovations... Read More

ST. PAUL LEGAL LEDGER CAPITOL REPORT
A public demand for improving and expanding transportation and transit systems is rising faster than any other concern, according to the latest national survey on policy priorities by the Pew Research Center.
And judging from the sheer number and variety of groups joining the MoveMN coalition — which is supporting a package of revenue increases to provide about $700 million more annually for transpor... Read More